


Roommates

by pcworth



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:30:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3603324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pcworth/pseuds/pcworth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a one-shot AU I worked up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roommates

After one week of living with Emma, Regina was pretty sure they wouldn’t make it a month. Emma was a sorority sister of Regina’s now best friend Katherine who needed a place to stay when she first moved to New York. Katherine had set it up for Emma to live with Regina because Regina needed a roommate not for rent, but to be there as sort of a house sitter because Regina was often not there.  
She had met Emma before they became roommates when they were both at Katherine’s wedding. That brief encounter was not enough to give her any inclination of what living with Emma would be like. In fact Katherine had to remind her who Emma was when she first floated the idea to her. Katherine’s wedding had been five years ago which Regina reminded Katherine of.  
But Katherine vouched for Emma and for Regina that was good enough.  
That was until Emma had actually moved in with her.  
Regina had lived a life of privilege. She wasn’t ashamed of the fact she came from money. Her family’s fortune was spread about to dozens of charities so it wasn’t as if it were wealth for wealth’s sake. She was proud of her heritage which could be traced back to the founding of the Americas.  
Since she didn’t actually require money it allowed her to work toward her one true love – music. She was a classically trained violinist who was first chair in the New York Philharmonic. She had performed around the world which is why she wanted the roommate – someone she could trust to watch over things during her extended absences.  
What she wasn’t expecting was one Emma Swan.  
Regina’s life worked because she kept things organized. She had a system for everything. She got up at the same time each day, went for the same four mile run and on days she didn’t have performances or wasn’t traveling she would practice her music for two hours. What others might see as a boring routine was something Regina found comfort in.  
She had explained to Emma that she had schedules to keep and Emma had told her it was no problem. What she should have said was that it was no problem to her because Emma had no intention of adhering to any kind of schedule.  
Regina found the whole thing highly frustrating and frankly incomprehensible especially given Emma’s line of work. Emma was an FBI agent who had worked in Atlanta before being assigned to the New York office. Regina had assumed being an FBI agent meant that Emma too was a structured individual.  
That wasn’t the case.  
Emma appeared to get up when she felt like it. After four days of inconsistent times of waking, Regina had asked her about her work schedule, trying to get a better feel for what kind of timing this woman was on.  
“It doesn’t work like a 9 to 5er,” Emma said, while drinking a cup of coffee. That was a new addition to her kitchen – a coffee maker. Regina only drank water or hot tea usually. She always thought coffee was nothing more than a legal drug – a caffeine addiction waiting to happen.  
“The kinds of cases I work on,” Emma continued. “They don’t happen on some set schedule so I can get called out at various times. It makes it hard to just live on some set sleep schedule. Didn’t Katherine explain this to you when she set this whole thing up?”  
“No,” Regina said. “She explained you were an FBI agent, but I guess I assumed it was a more defined role.”  
Emma gave her a look like she was crazy – not the first one she had given to her in their short amount of time living together.  
“This isn’t going to be a problem is it?” Emma asked.  
“Of course not,” Regina smiled. Never let it be said that Regina Mills wasn’t a gracious person she thought.  
“Good because I wouldn’t want to mess up what you got going on in your life.”  
“I hardly think that will be an issue.”  
Yes, Regina thought, this won’t last a month.

Three months in  
“She was sleeping on my couch,” Regina said to Katherine over lunch.  
“She was probably tired.”  
“Then she should sleep in her own room, she does have one.”  
Katherine studied her friend wondering just how much she was going to listen to Regina complain about Emma. It had been like this for the last month or so.  
When she first came up with the idea of Emma living with Regina she had hoped that it would be not only beneficial for Emma by giving her a place to stay that she could afford but really she had done it for Regina. She loved Regina and she knew Regina had a big heart, but the problem was Regina had become too rigid about things. Everything had to be planned out and she left nothing to chance.  
The woman actually made back up reservations at places just in case something would happen at the place she intended to go or if she was kept waiting what she considered too long of a time. Katherine was from the south originally which was where she had gone to college at the SEC powerhouse Alabama. It was there that she met Emma.  
Katherine went on to law school and eventually got a job in New York with a firm that dealt in environmental law. She was dating a guy – a musician who was with the Philharmonic which is how she met Regina.  
They had become friends even though Katherine’s relationship with the musician didn’t last. It was Regina who had introduced her to her husband Graham who worked as a stockbroker in Regina’s uncle’s firm.  
But Regina had changed over the past few years and in Katherine’s mind at least it was a change that would kill Regina eventually. She never mentioned it though. She had crossed that line with Regina once and it nearly ended their friendship.  
Emma was everything Regina wasn’t. Emma had worked for everything she got in life. She put herself through college by working two jobs and Emma was also the kind of person who enjoyed life. She had to, Katherine figured, after the darkness she saw in her job day in and day out.  
It was Katherine’s wish that Emma living with Regina would maybe force the brunette to actually live. Listening to Regina now she was wondering if she had been sorely mistaken.  
“I don’t think you understand, I couldn’t practice with her lying there.”  
“Why didn’t you practice in your room?”  
Regina looked stunned by the very idea of it. “Because I practice there in that room. I set my music up so I am facing the window. I don’t practice in my room.”  
“You couldn’t have made an exception this one time.”  
Again Regina gave her a look like she was crazy. “I have a show coming up,” Regina said finally.  
“It’s less than a month a way and you know that music by heart.”  
“Why are you taking her side?”  
“I am not taking anyone’s side. I just don’t see why you can’t compromise a little. I mean did you even ask her why she was sleeping on the couch?”  
“No. It doesn’t matter. I informed her that it would be best if she kept to her own room for any sleeping time. If it happens again I may have to ask her to find other accommodations. I felt I should inform you of this.”  
“I think you should give Emma a chance.”  
“We’ve lived with each other for three months.”  
“Ok, well tell me what you know about her.”  
The question caught her off guard, but she quickly composed herself. “She likes to drink coffee. She is adequate at doing laundry although she doesn’t clean out the lint trap after each cycle as she should. She is an FBI agent who works varied hours.”  
“What kinds of cases does she work on for the FBI?”  
“Why would I know that?”  
“Doesn’t she ever talk about her work?”  
“To be honest, we aren’t around each other much which I think we both prefer.”  
“If having Emma as your roommate is too much for you to handle, fine, I am sure she can find other arrangements. She can stay with Graham and I while she finds a place if she is that much of an inconvenience to you. But perhaps you should try to get to know your roommate first before you ask her to leave.”

Three days later  
Regina came back from her run and went to the kitchen to get her customary bottle of water. She found Emma there sitting at the table with her customary cup of coffee. She had thought about what Katherine had said about getting to know Emma and she wondered if she should engage her in a conversation. She was afraid if she did the time would run over though and she needed to shower before practicing.  
It wasn’t as if Emma had even acknowledged her presence in the room as she was reading from some file.  
Regina took her water and was about to walk out of the room but decided reluctantly to ask Emma a question. “Is that work?”  
Emma looked up at her and then back down at the file before looking at Regina again. “Yeah, it’s not my case but one of the other agents asked if I would take a look, you know give it some fresh eyes.”  
“Oh,” Regina said, feeling stupid for not knowing what to say next. She stood there a moment feeling quite uncomfortable and she glanced at her watch.  
“Time for your shower?”  
“Just about,” Regina said feeling even more uncomfortable as she felt like Emma was scrutinizing her every movement now. “Um … the case is it something you normally work on?”  
“This one, not exactly,” she said. “This is a gun running case.”  
“And that isn’t the kind of thing you do?”  
“No. I work mostly with cases involving children.”  
“Children? Are there a lot of cases involving children that the FBI looks into?”  
“Unfortunately, yes. I work a lot of kidnappings or slave trade cases.”  
“You mean kids that are sold as slaves.”  
“Yes. Those are the worst. Many times they are immigrant kids and we can’t really do anything with them once their rescued. All we can do is call the state department and turn them over. A lot of times they end up back in the home countries where they were originally sold from. Even when you know you did something good, it’s cases like those that you can’t really celebrate.”  
“How do …” she paused looking at her watch. She needed to get going. “I um … I got to go.”  
“Yeah,” Emma said. “I know.”  
Regina didn’t like the way Emma said it but she shook off the feeling it gave her and went to take her shower.  
Later on as she was practicing, she found it hard to concentrate and her timing was off. It frustrated her and she tried to force the music to come out instead of just playing like she knew she could. The problem was she kept thinking about Emma and their talk that morning.

Later that day  
Emma gave the case file back to Agent James Charming. “Interview the kid brother again,” she said. “Young kids like that always know what is going on, they just don’t think anyone will listen to them.”  
“Thanks,” he said as she took a seat in front of desk. He thought she looked tired, more so lately. “Still having issues with your control freak of a roommate?”  
“She actually tried talking to me this morning,” she answered. “But it started to encroach on the time she has scheduled off for showering so the conversation ended rather abruptly.”  
“Scheduled time off for showering, you got yourself a real OCDer there.”  
“Here’s the thing, I swear for a moment she just wanted to talk maybe even sit down. She was in the process of asking me another question but as soon as she looked at that watch of hers it was like never mind. I don’t get it.”  
“Did you ask your other friend, you know the hot blonde about it?”  
“Her name is Katherine, and yes I mentioned something to her about Regina’s obsession with scheduling things out and all she would say is that it wasn’t always like that with Regina. I gather something happened to her, but Katherine isn’t saying what it is.”  
“I told you I would be more than happy to check out your roommate on the down low.”  
“And I told you no already.”  
“It’s not like I would be bending any departmental rules. In fact it would fall within it.”  
“How so?”  
“You are living with her. You know the bureau likes to know if its agents are around trustworthy people. Come on Swan, let me take a peak at her background.”  
“Absolutely not. It would be my luck it would cost me that sweet house and if it did, I am moving in with you and I am not paying you a dime of rent.”  
“Mary Margaret might have something to say about that.”  
“Hey, she’s your wife, you explain it to her.”

17 days later  
Regina stared at Emma who was asleep on her couch once more. She hadn’t noticed the other woman when she left for her run that morning but had seen her as soon as she returned. Still Regina hadn’t said anything, hoping that Emma would wake by the time Regina was scheduled to practice.  
She hadn’t woken and now Regina was two minutes behind schedule.  
“Miss Swan,” she said. No reaction. “Miss Swan!”  
Emma groaned as she turned over and saw Regina looking down at her. “What?”  
“You were asleep on the couch again. We have spoken about this. Kindly vacate the couch so I can practice.”  
Emma wanted to roll her eyes but she didn’t. Instead she sat up and stretched a little. She saw Regina looking at that damn watch again.  
“Miss Swan,” Regina said urgently.  
“God could you relax for two seconds.” Emma said. “I had a late night last night. I am sorry for falling asleep on the couch but I was exhausted.”  
“I don’t care. Just leave the room so I can practice.”  
“Why do I have to leave the room? You perform in front of people all the time.”  
“Not when I practice, now kindly leave Miss Swan. You have now made me four and half minutes late, and probably another minute later by the time you vacate the area.”  
“What is your problem?”  
“What is my problem? My problem is your complete lack of respect for how things run around here.”  
“Oh you mean because I won’t adhere to your little time schedule,” Emma said.  
Regina looked at her watch, she didn’t have time for this.  
“Stop it,” Emma said standing up and putting her hand over the watch. “Stop looking at that fucking watch every minute of your day. You can’t plan out everything on a schedule. Life doesn’t work that way.”  
Regina pulled away from her. “Don’t you dare try and tell me how life works.”  
“It doesn’t work the way you are living it. I’ve been here for nearly four months Regina and I have yet to see you deviate from your schedule. Why is that? What the hell happened to you that turned you into this person?”  
“Get out!”  
“Fine,” Emma said putting her hands up. “Sorry for robbing you of five or what is now six minutes of practice time.”  
“No I mean get out for good. When I return from this trip, I want you gone. You can give the keys to Katherine.”  
“You want me gone, then I am gone. But whether I am here or not you might want to think about seeking some help Regina. This life of yours, it’s no life at all. Tell me have you scheduled out your whole life yet, even your death?”  
Emma knew she had taken a step too far but she was angry and she didn’t wait around to see the effects of her words. She grabbed her coat and was out the door.  
Regina stood there as she heard the door slam. She closed her eyes for a moment and then went to set up her music. She looked at her watch. She was more than seven minutes behind schedule.

Two days later  
“I am sorry,” Katherine was saying to Emma. “I shouldn’t have arranged this whole roommate thing.”  
“Why did you exactly? I could have found a place. I can afford a place on my own. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate you thinking of me.”  
“I wasn’t thinking about you. I was thinking about Regina. I had hoped that you being there might …”  
“Might what?”  
“Might bring Regina back to herself, back to how she used to be.”  
“You’ve said something like that before. What does that mean?”  
Katherine sighed. “Do you remember meeting Regina at my wedding?”  
“Like I said before yes but not in any great detail.”  
“Do you recall her looking at her watch or being concerned about the time?”  
“No, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with her either. Are you saying this whole time thing it a recent thing?”  
“It’s been her life for the last three years.”  
“Why?”  
Katherine was silent. She wasn’t sure she should tell Emma. It wasn’t as if what had happened three years ago was a great secret.  
“Come on Katherine, what is it?”  
“Three years ago Regina’s parents were killed in a car wreck while they were on their way to their summer home in Maine. Regina was never the same afterward. That watch she wears, it was her mom’s. Her mom was wearing it the day the wreck happened. At first I thought this was just how Regina was grieving. You know, people handle death in different ways. But it didn’t stop. About a year and half into it I confronted her. I told her I was worried about her and that she might benefit from seeing a therapist. She shot me down of course but I couldn’t let it stop. We ended up getting in this huge fight and I remember her saying that the crash was her fault. I didn’t understand. Regina was here in New York when it happened, yet she was adamant that it was her fault. I tried to press the issue with her and she shut down. She wouldn’t speak to me for weeks and when she finally did it was like she had forgotten the conversation had ever taken place.”  
“Her parents, I didn’t know. You could have told me.”  
“I was hoping maybe Regina would tell you. That house after all, it was her parents. Regina’s place was in a hi-rise but she moved out of it and into their home.”  
“If it was their home why isn’t there some sign of it. Pictures or something.”  
“I think the house is a painful enough reminder for her that she took everything else down and put it in storage or something.”  
“Damn,” Emma said. “I really fucked this up didn’t I?”  
“It’s not your fault. I should have been more upfront with you about Regina’s issues.”

A week later  
Regina entered her home feeling jet lagged. Her performance had been in Argentina and her flight had been delayed on the way back which was not something she could rearrange. It had put her in a bad mood and the prospect of an entire lost half of a day had her frustrated.  
When she entered she noticed the light in the main room was on and she wondered if Emma had purposely left it on when she left. That was one good thing about coming home- she didn’t have to worry about Emma interrupting her schedule anymore.  
She came into the room though and saw a small boy sitting on the couch. He was staring at the floor and hadn’t appeared to have seen her. She looked around. They appeared to be alone.  
“Excuse me,” Regina said.  
The boy didn’t acknowledge her.  
“Little boy, what are you doing here? Are you lost?” She knew it sounded stupid even as she said it but she didn’t know how to explain why a child who was maybe three or four was on her couch.  
“Regina.”  
She turned to see Emma coming out of the kitchen with a paper plate with some food on it.  
“Emma, what’s going on here?”  
“Sorry,” she said. “I just … hold on I need to see if he will eat.”  
She approached the boy and knelt down in front of him. “Hey Henry, I got you something to eat,” she said. “Are you hungry?”  
The boy continued to stare at the floor. Emma put the plate next to him on the couch. “It’s there if you want it.”  
She walked over to Regina. “Miss Swan, what is going on here?”  
“Not out here,” she said grabbing Regina’s arm and pulling her into the kitchen.  
“Why are you still here and who is that child?” Regina demanded.  
“Could you keep your voice down? Look I am sorry I am still here, but I got called out on a case a couple of days ago. A couple was murdered, their son Henry, he was found wandering by a neighbor. When they tried to return him to the house they found the door was unlocked and the parents were dead. The medical examiner thinks the kid may have been in the house with them for a couple of days before he finally wandered off. Two days in the house with his parents murdered. He hasn’t said a word to anyone. They called me in to see if I could reach him, but everything I have tried so far has been for nothing. They were going to turn him over to child protective services, but I asked them to let him stay with me for a bit to see if I could get him to talk or atleast stave off being put with some foster family. Like I said, I am sorry. I know you wanted me gone, but I haven’t had the chance to and now with Henry here … we didn’t have anywhere else to go.”  
Regina looked at the boy. He seemed to sense her presence for the first time and looked up her for the tiniest of moments before looking back at the floor.  
“It’s fine,” she said.  
“Are you sure?”  
“It’s not as if it is a permanent situation,” she said. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”  
She went and gathered her bags and went to her room not giving the child another glance.

The next day  
Regina sat up her music and took a breath before beginning to play. She hadn’t been happy with her performance at the concert. While others had raved about her solo, she knew it wasn’t flawless. Again, it felt forced when it should be flowing from her.  
She launched into her solo, keeping her eyes closed as she played. She went through her progressions, her timing. She kept her focus for the entire two hours.  
Once she was finished, she turned and was startled. Henry was sitting there on the couch watching her. Yet now that she was looking at him, he adverted his eyes.  
“Emma?” Regina called out.  
Emma came in from another room. “What?”  
Regina moved closer to her so she could whisper. “How long has he been sitting there?”  
“Almost since you started playing. He heard the music and just sort of walked in and sat down. I didn’t want to disturb you by grabbing him and I didn’t think he was doing any harm.”  
Regina looked at the child again. “It’s fine,” she said.

And that is how it went throughout the course of the next week. Every time Regina would practice she would find Henry there watching her from the couch. The child hadn’t said anything the entire time. Nothing Emma did seemed to work. As it turned out, they didn’t need Henry to say anything. A couple of weeks later they made an arrest in the case. Emma had come home and told Regina. It was one of the rare times that Emma had left Henry at the house without her being there. Regina had agreed to watch him – after all he never said anything or did much of anything that Regina could go about her routine without being interrupted by him.  
“I will talk to children’s services tomorrow how about taking him.” Emma said. “And then give me a couple of days and I will be out of your hair too.”  
“Ok,” was all Regina said.

The next day Regina set up her music as usual. She glanced behind her to see if Henry was in place, but was surprised that he wasn’t sitting down. Instead he came over and stood in front of her on the little window seat.  
He was looking right at her and it unnerved her.  
“Don’t you want to sit on the couch as usual?” she asked.  
No answer.  
She closed her eyes and took a breath and began to play. She was only in the first part when she peeked an eye open. He was still there. She closed her eyes again, trying to block him from her mind and just play. But a few moments later she again opened an eye and found him there.  
Try as she might every time she would continue to play she couldn’t keep the image of him out of her mind. Finally, she stopped. She put down her instrument and walked over to him, kneeling in front of him.  
“Henry, don’t you want to sit on the couch?”  
Nothing.  
She sighed. She hadn’t really said much to this kid the entire time he was here. What was the point, she thought, he wasn’t going to talk back.  
“Henry, go sit on the couch so I can practice.”  
Nothing.  
She ran her hands flat against her face a moment and when she looked up she noticed his eyes were no longer on her exactly. She followed his eyes – he was looking at her watch. He reached out for it and she moved her hand back. But the look in his eyes made her stop. He looked as if he was going to cry.  
She took the watch off of her wrist and held it a moment before reaching her hand out with it in her palm. He snatched it from her hand and the moved it in almost protectively toward his body where he began to examine it.  
She watched him study it intently. “It was my mom’s,” she said finally and he looked up at her. “It was a gift from my dad for their wedding anniversary.”  
She got up and took a seat beside him. “You see my parents, they um … they also died. They were in a car crash and um they didn’t make it. But that watch, that watch was still in perfect condition. I can still remember the last time I saw my mom wear it. They had come to my apartment to drop off the keys to the house because I was going to be checking in on it during the summer while they were away. And um I was running late –as usual. I show up and my parents had been waiting for almost an hour for me to get there. I remember my mom looking down at that watch and telling my dad that they needed to get on the road because of the traffic. Dad joked that they needed to get me a watch as a gift for watching their house while they were gone. And then they both gave me a hug and told me that they loved me and … and that was the last time I saw them. They got caught in this pile up and maybe if I hadn’t have been late …”  
The tears were coming so fast that she couldn’t get them to stop. She was blinded by them, but she felt a weight come onto her lap and a pair of tiny arms wrap around her neck. She brought her arms up and hugged Henry to her chest.  
She didn’t see Emma standing there from the doorway where she had been listening to the entire exchange.

One year later  
The sound of laughter greeted Emma as she came into the kitchen. Henry was at the kitchen table laughing at the television that was propped up on the counter.  
Emma went straight to the coffee maker but Regina intercepted her, giving her a cup of freshly brewed coffee. “Thanks.”  
“No problem,” she said. “Another late night?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
“Maybe later when the kid is asleep.”  
Regina just nodded.  
“Morning kid,” Emma said, rubbing the top of his head with her hand before sitting down.  
“Morning Emma,” he said.  
“Do you two have big plans for the day?” she asked.  
“Nope,” Regina said as she put down a plate of breakfast in front of Emma. “We might go to the park or maybe to a movie. We haven’t decided.”


End file.
